A time to live
by Rookieintraining
Summary: During the final battle in a almost unwinnable war against a group of mutated humans known as titans the ultimate weapon was meant to be humanity's sacrifice for the greater good. This sacrifice was Eren Yeager. Suddenly, he goes missing leaving his group to fend for themselves. Will they find Eren again? Who are these children who saved them? ERIRI!
1. A time to escape

During the final battle in a almost unwinnable war against a group of mutated humans known as titans the ultimate weapon was meant to be humanity's sacrifice for the greater good.

The weapon itself managed to destroy the race of deadly creatures without having to sacrifice it's life. In the December of 2243, humanity was declared free of the creatures for good with the exception of a few living 'titan shifters' these were announced as 'the shrapnel's' relating to the last existing line of people linked with the original creatures.

The queen at the time Historia had decided that those who fought for the sake of human kind would be celebrated as hero's and given special pardon's for their dedication.

Upon the announcement of this, many remaining humans decided to rise against the Queen as they saw it fit to destroy the 'shrapnel's' before they could turn rabid and therefore begin the cycle once more.

The Queen stepped down with the agreement that her lover and several of the main soldiers known as shifters would not be killed. One of these was nicknamed either 'the rouge or the ultimate weapon' due to his strong and sometimes unpredictable abilities it was debated whether he should be 'put down' for safety.

Luckily, on the 4th of April 2244 he disappeared, nobody had seen him since.

His name was Eren.

Eren's absence had caused a void in the everyday lives of the Scouts, they were used to waking up to his eager expression and eyes that held pure unadulterated determination.

The vigor that those turquoise gems held could drive a soldier into an equal and honest titan slaughtering frenzy. Nobody doubted themselves when Eren was around to tell them about his dream of a titan-free world.

The brunet was something special when it came to encouraging others in seemingly hopeless situations. Levi secretly always believed that it was this power that made Eren shine brighter than the other cadets.

Never had he encountered someone with so much devotion to the cause than himself but then again he never would have guessed that certain lunatics were turning innocent children into mindless bloodthirsty monsters.

The thought of Eren screaming in agony as his father forced a venomous life changing serum into his system made Levi genuinely gag. How could somebody do something so unbelievably cruel to their own flesh and blood?

Sometimes Levi wondered if the mission (if there was one) for these experiments was to make the children just like them, evil, vicious beasts. Grisha Yeager had earned his place among the long list of despicable people Levi wished he had the chance to meet.

This would allow him the opportunity to beat the life out of the man, the way that Levi had beaten Eren.

Thanks to Grisha's wonderful handy work Eren had gotten the life kicked out of him over and over and over again.

Levi knew that he was in love with Eren. To be honest it wasn't really a secret.

Most either never mentioned it out of fear of actually losing their lives or didn't figure it out because overall he was rather discreet about the way he presented his emotions.

It took Levi a cold trail and several months of pure agony for Levi to realise his feelings for Eren. The brat made his heart race like nobody else could make it and every time he was around the beauty he felt completely on edge.

These feelings that he now admitted were side effects of love, he used to imagine was his way of staying constantly weary of the bright eyed boy. This short amount of time that Levi used to deny his true feelings ended rather abruptly when the young man left though.

He tried desperately to use excuses about his feelings in order to protect his open heart from the obvious fate that the teen held before him. Levi knew that once the war was over then the people that Eren wanted to protect would turn against him and chose that the boy should die for the good of humanity.

Then the humanity that resided in Eren would be taken.

Piece by piece.

It would be stripped from him by the ones he loved.

The ones he fought for

The world would decide to destroy him for their own selfish gain, Levi just knew it.

It was true that they had been discussing the eventuality of Eren Yeager since he arose from the corpse of the titan's nape. From the day his human life as destroyed and turned into entertainment for the humans that he chose to believe were good and honorable.

Eren was a child.

He probably still believed in fairytales and happy endings.

Perhaps this was what Levi was so drawn to, the side that Levi himself never got to embrace, the one filled with childish dreams. Maybe, just maybe Eren was Levi's escape from reality, the reason that he chose to fight on instead of finally giving into fate.

He had never felt so enthusiastic, then when those turquoise eyes entered the room, he honestly seemed to get a new sense of purpose, one much stronger than ever before.

When he felt, well Levi broke.

The sudden impact that was Eren's disappearance took away any feelings of optimism or enthusiasm.

He just existed in a world where most others thrived.

Levi had never felt love loss, but he was sure that this feeling was it, he chuckled darkly whenever he thought about fates cruel way of taking precious things.

Mikasa held the same amount of sadness of course, she was in about as much pain as he was in but unlike him she showed the effects differently. Mikasa was a complete mess at first, she was angry, uncontrollably so in fact.

Levi only saw this side of her as a sad little girl who was absolutely desperate to find her beloved brother before something bad happened to him. Levi understood the feeling of wanting to protect Eren no matter what the cost but Mikasa's motherly instinct was relentless and left Eren feeling uncomfortable.

He had shared his concerns with Levi about Mikasa's overprotectiveness on numerous occasions often after the pair had fought over her incredibly annoying babying.

Often Levi mistook their relationship because of the never ending arguments between the two, all they ever seemed to achieve when together was a new reason to dislike the other.

Levi smiled when watching Eren with smoke practically spouting from his ears at her 'lack of listening skills'.

For a titan the boy sure complained a lot, probably more than anyone that he had ever witnessed before, this was how Erwin had figured out Levi's developing feelings for the brunet.

Apparently, Levi was far too tolerable of the constant complaining and endless whimpering. His behaviour while being unknown to the man himself changed to become more approachable and overall friendly.

Levi was stunned when he has told by his commander that he was more sociable than usual because of some ridiculous teenager with the irritating power of becoming something that Levi vowed to destroy.

"They know where we are Captain, there is no way that we can escape" Mikasa whispered angrily, who would have thought that they would get the blame for Eren's disappearance and therefore be classed as fugitives for their crimes?

Mikasa scowled at the thought of being in the hands of the military police that she honestly couldn't stand the sight of. Levi growled at the news, he knew that they had most entrances blocked but they couldn't know them all right. Levi turned to Erwin who gave him a quick nod to confirm Mikasa's conclusion, they were stuck.

"We need to escape now Captain or we will all be killed" Sasha shouted across the room, she held a long riffle and was shooting out the nearby window ducking beneath the glass when shots were returned.

Hanji jumped when the sound of banging was against the door echoed throughout the room.

"It's too late" Connie muttered clutching onto Armin who was visibly shaking at the horrifying noise.

They were all helplessly huddled into the corner now, even Sasha had made her way over to them in a bid to feel comforted.

With one last sickening bang the door flew off it's hinges and into the corner where Sasha was snipping.

To the groups surprise it wasn't a group of angry soldiers that was sent to execute them that burst into the room but one lone man.

He was small, from his physique probably a teenager, unfortunately he wore an ugly gas mask to hide his appearance and a plain black hoodie managed to cover his hair and back.

When the man seemingly looked at the group he said something into a hidden microphone that Levi couldn't quite hear. The man didn't seem hostile towards them otherwise why hadn't he carried out his orders.

He then chuckled "well it seems that your all alright, if you want to live then go to this address" this confirmed Levi's beliefs that the man wasn't the typical soldier that they originally figured he was.

"How can we trust you?" Jean snarled, it was obvious why he didn't want to trust the masked person, but still this wasn't the time for questioning his intensions.

"Because I am the only one who came to rescue you, now lets go. Follow the map exactly and don't get followed... for their sake" the last part was an almost inaudible whisper that made everyone shudder.

Each of them followed the man to a hidden exit underneath the basement floor, the escape route was cramped but still would allow them all to fit.

"We need to go now or the building is going to collapse" Armin yelled hurriedly, they trusted the boy like no other and he was usually correct in these type of situations.

Gas mask as Levi decided to refer to him nodded in agreement before pushing Sasha and Connie into the gap.

They were followed by Krista, Ymir, Jean, Marco, Hanji, Moblit, Erwin, Levi and finally gas mask.

The darkness was shrouding them but before long they reached their destination.

Levi almost gagged when he was walking through the space, who knows how long its been since this tunnel was cleaned?

A little light above them let them know that they were allowed out.

"This is where we part. Follow it exactly, I promise that you will find shelter" the young man nodded at them before retreating into a different tunnel in another direction.

Nobody followed the mysterious stranger, he seemed trustworthy and so far the man hadn't lead them astray.

Still Levi cringed when climbing up the dirt filled slime fest that was the underground ladder, all the way to climbing through the gutter that they had now opened up in the ground.

"What's the stupid map say then asshole?" Levi growled still unhappy about their decent from the gloomy passageway through the underground maze.

Erwin smirked knowingly at the short man who didn't seem to register his smugness and continued with his scowling.

The older blonde opened the map to reveal that they were now located outside the 'Rose wall district', this left them wondering just how far those tunnels took them in such a short amount of time, honestly they were astonished, the outer regions were not patrolled by the military police since it was out of their protection zone.

Nobody knew the area like the scouts or maybe someone did, the man was incredibly strange and left them all in a confused state about his intensions.

"We should get moving, he said that we can't be followed" Mikasa said calmly, she wanted to get to their destination quickly and without damage or injury.

Sasha nodded quickly and Connie sighed.

"Wait, I've never even seen this territory. Is it even real?" Hanji inquired looking helplessly at the maps coordinates.

Armin studied the paper before nodding his head and muttering calculations to himself.

"It's certainly possible that there is a hidden village in this location, that's probably where that guy was from and that's why he's sending us there" the blonde mushroom clarified before looking to Erwin.

Levi could see that the Commander was carefully evaluating their options in order to create a likely outcome.

When the man looked at Levi with blank eyes, he didn't know whether to scream or punch someone.

Maybe both.

"I will leave the decision to my fellow comrades, this must be your own choice because it seems like I am no longer your leader. We are not welcomed by the inner walls and therefore the legion doesn't exist. When you make this decision, it must be your own." Erwin concluded looking intensely at each surrounding individual.

His eyes lingered on Levi who had already made his decision, he was going to find out where that god damn map would lead them, mostly because he had a strange feeling that something better than treasure was hidden at the X.

Mikasa was the first to announce that she was following the coordinates along with Armin who wouldn't be allowed to leave her side anyway. It was clear that she was missing her daughter Kalora, but still she preserved on.

Levi noticed that Erwin was going to make his decision based on the smaller blonde anyway since they were married and automatically made his way over to the map corner.

Connie and Sasha debated to one another for a moment before saying that there would be nowhere they would rather go than with their friends.

Jean and Marco nodded at their friends before joining them.

Hanji and Moblit also stood by them.

All eyes turned to Levi, Krista and Ymir.

The two women looked at each other before shaking their heads. "We can't go with you into this fight im afraid. We have some business to discuss" Krista clarified before shooting them a blinding smile.

Everyone nodded in agreement and encouraging words shot out from amongst the group.

Levi didn't need too express his decision, one quick nod was all it took for them to guess the mans choice.

"The walk should be around three hours so I hope everyone isn't tired out already because god knows what we are going to find" Armin stated before following Erwin the direction that they were told to head.

Mikasa clutched the small blondes hand for comfort, they were completely inseparable since the disappearance and it helped Levi to feel at peace when they were both together. Who would have thought that Mikasa would be Levi's cousin?

Well sure they looked similar but then again he looked like anyone with raven hair.

The only quality that differentiated him from others were his stormy grey eyes that were apparently the same colour as a sharp piercing knife.

He glowered at the thought of people looking at him like that, all he wanted was a quiet life but sadly it seemed that he would never actually achieve such an incredible feat.

Levi wasn't exactly tired from the last encounter they had but still the tiredness that comes with age was setting on him.

He was emotionally drained by recent events and just wanted to sleep peacefully somewhere for a while.

Unfortunately for Levi the walk was a long and arduous journey that mostly consisted of the occasional meaningless banter and never ending complaining.

To say that Levi hated hiking was indeed an understatement, horses were one thing but 20 miles of continuous uphill trudging was just plain horrific. He had never wanted to strangle someone so much in his life and when considering this it was pretty damn impressive.

Why he decided to trust some random guy with a seemingly legitimate map of a previously unvisited location was completely beyond him?

Mikasa looked like she was going to collapse and Armin was already being dragged along by Erwin.

Hanji had actually lost energy and now looked like a walking corpse instead of an unnatural ball of over excitable weirdness.

"It took you long enough" a strange voice echoed from all around them, before Levi knew it he had his sword in hand and was ready to attack the stranger.


	2. A time to learn

"Put down the weapon little man, im not here to hurt any of you, my brother led you here" a girl with sparkling blue eyes walked out of the darkness holding a long sharp knife.

She wore a black hoodie similar to the boy who saved them before, Levi realised that her eyes were all that could be seen and even her hair had been carefully concealed. She looked at them cautiously before turning on her heels to head in the opposite direction.

The girl carefully motioned that they should follow her with her index finger before she started to walk away. Levi looked at her accusingly. Honestly he didn't trust her and was certainly not impressed by her comment on his height, unfortunately Levi knew that he would have to get over it. He needed to let it go for the sake of the others who by this point were completely exhausted.

They continued to walk through a forest like place that reminded Levi of an expedition he had went on years before. During this unfortunate time he had lost some of his closest friends to a cruel mutant shifter that only wanted to slaughter the human race.

"So, it took you quite a while to walk here, I guess that we underestimated you elders, goodness brother will be so displeased with your progress" she continued mockingly.

Although she sounded childish the girl held a certain darkness to her, also she didn't seem to care that the group of people that she was insulting were actually war hero's and the only reason why the world was free of titans.

The young girl wasn't even seem discouraged by Levi's death stare, all in all, the girl they decided must have been absolutely fearless. Mikasa looked weary of the girl while Hanji seemed drawn to her, though that was most likely because she stood up to Levi which most people rarely did.

"Why are we here?" Erwin spoke up confidently, he looked like he was unfazed by the girls lack of consideration or fear.

She turned towards him with a menacing grin and pounced at him like a cat on all fours to his feet. She looked up at him with slit's for pupils and growled warningly her once blue eyes were now a hypnotising turquoise colour.

"Because we have to protect you, it isn't because we want to or anything well at least I don't..." She trailed of before regaining her confidence "But, father will appreciate us protecting you so for now shut up and follow.

Any questions will be answered by someone more 'qualified' to give them to you" she announced before standing up again and jumping forward onto a nearby rock. Somehow the girl was really feline-like, she moved like a cat stalking its prey and her attitude was laid back but also dangerous. Levi was impressed but also annoyed, he didn't like her inability to show respect or to not express her opinion, it was irritating.

"I understand" Erwin replied before following her once again. The girl slammed her foot down onto the floor and a loud piercing sound was heard from below.

"0214/3 requesting permission for transport for coordinates 09/alpha 2/5 base 1" she clearly stated before the ground started to shake. "Permission granted, welcome back codename 'black cat'" an automated voice said quietly as they ventured into the dark staircase that opened up beneath them.

The so called 'black cat' went first whispering directions to the tunnel as they walked. "Light's activate, door 435 open" the dark passageway was filled with light and what once looked like a dead end was now an open metal tunnel filled with warmth.

Levi could hear the whistling of the harsh wind echoing from through the now closing door along with several whispers from the array of soldiers who had travelled with them. "Door 218 open. Entry permission, granted from codename 'king'. Group 1. Ren."

The door seemed to scan her words before opening up. Levi wondered how this group had put together such an intricate security system, everything that happened in this place had many tricks and everything was done with precision.

"Welcome to the first base, I hope you guys know that you are the first visitors to our facility, we are rather secretive. So you better be careful okay. It's Ren, my name. Just in case you need to ask for me" the girl announced while she walked away.

When she took of the hoodie that was covering her face everyone gasped, the girl was frighteningly beautiful, her crystal blue eyes glimmered while her soft, bouncy brown hair fell at her waist. She had a paw print tattoo on her shoulder from what Levi could see and a beauty mark under her eye. "Well, She was rather rude wasn't she?" Sasha imputed before anyone else could say it.

In truth Levi could tell that the girl was trying to be polite, Ren seemed like an anti-social type of person and he could relate to that. They took a moment to appreciate their surroundings. The base was huge almost like an air hangar, the place was packed to the brim with random pieces of paper that was shattered as far as the eye could see. Levi estimated that the floor was around the size of two football grounds. There seemed to be doors separating the other parts of the base as well.

Over all the place was amazing.

Lights hung from the ceiling illuminating the room and computers practically surrounded them. Most of them looked like they were connected to surveillance cameras because of the footage that was being produced.

"Welcome to Base 1 or alternatively 'the basement'" a familiar voice rang out. Everyone looked around to see the same boy who had saved them before hand smiling brightly at them. In his grasp he held the gas mask and the hoodie was carefully placed on a hanger to their right.

"Ah, its good to see that your all okay, that grump didn't insult you right, Ren is shy that's all. Haha. Oh the names Nai by the way hehe" he giggled softly before smiling kindly at them. Marco held out a hand to the boy and thanked him for helping them out. Nai was without a doubt one of the most breathtakingly beautiful people that Levi had ever met, the boy countered even the looks of Eren and that was hard to do.

He had white hair that turned a pale mint green colour as it went further down his face. His hair landed just below his eyes and was a fluffy mess of cuteness. He had welcoming golden eyes that shone when the light hit them. Something that Levi also noticed was the boys height, he was about an inch smaller than Levi himself and had a small physique.

Everyone else looked like they had an instant liking to Nai, he was small cute and likable especially because his innocent-like personality was incredibly rare but entirely endearing.

"Hey! Thank you for keeping our guests company Nai. I will take over from here. My name is Royal, I will be showing you around and answering any questions that you have". Nai was dismissed before Royal spoke again.

'Royal' was a tall young man with short blond hair and warm brown eyes. His smile screamed lovable and looked like someone that you would find in a host club. "Sorry about anything that Ren may have said in retrospect we should have sent someone else" Royal murmured while shooting them a sorry look. He smiled again before looking at them blankly. "How many of there are you?" Jean asked quietly.

Levi was curious about the amount of people at the facility too. He didn't see anyone around but then again there was no way a small group could have a base so incredible right?

"Overall there are ten of us. Yeah, I know that were a tiny organisation but that's how we like it. It is run by our father. Me, Ren and Nai are three of his kids and all nine of us make up the group with him as the chief. Got it?" Levi was taken aback along with everyone else.

There was only 10 members of this group, members who nobody had ever seen or heard about.

"You will need to know their names but that's all for now. Father will fill you in once he arrives about any traits of the children. So you have met Ren, codename Black cat. Nai, codename Pure light. Me, Royal; codename King. The ones you have yet to meet are Nix, Noah, Leo, Mirai, Ara and Alfie. They will introduce themselves using codenames, please remember these we don't want to be found out" Royal explained.

Levi was totally confused by this point and was now contemplating his sanity. So far he knew that this was a group run by brats, who were all the kids of one man and they wanted to protect them for this man. They also all have codenames to protect them but since we will be living here, we have to learn their real ones.

"Why did you save us again?" Marco asked cautiously hiding the small blush on his face by slipping behind Jean.

"Easy, because father would have wanted us too, speaking of our dad he has just arrived and will be with you shortly, I will round up the rest of the children so you can introduce yourself and the other way around of course. Ren and Nai will stay with you until then please request anything of them and they will bring it for you" Royal announced before walking up a large flight of stairs to where Levi could only guess were the upper floors.

Nai soon ran towards them with a large silver serving cart filled with different types of snacks and lots of teapots.

"I don't suppose you can locate where my daughter is can you?" Mikasa asked there was a ounce of pain in her words that made the enthusiastic boy flinch. He carefully placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I will get Noah on it right away im sure that she can find her. What's her name and age?" Nai said slowly with a sad smile slotted onto his face. Mikasa looked up at him with hopeful eyes and smiled slightly "her name is Kalora and she's 3 years old. I miss her".

Mikasa told the boy before looking at her hands, she never was very good with her feelings. Nai played with his ear for a second before speaking whispering something almost silently.

"How did you build such an amazing place without being noticed?" Connie asked carefully he was really curious about how they had managed to construct such a huge place under the careful watch of both themselves and the military police.

Ren sighed loudly before turning towards the buzz cut haired young man. "This place was built by our father, Noah and Royal, trust me if anything can be built then Royal can do it but if you need anything to do with technology then Noah can help the two of them are probably our so called family geniuses" she mused before grabbing a newly poured cup of tea from Nai.

Levi really wanted to meet this Noah girl she seemed to be behind this whole thing as well as their 'father' in which he couldn't help but notice that they were being extremely distant about. They never gave his name or anything useful in finding out their identity.

Honestly who was this man he must be quite old to have teenage children but still he couldn't figure it out. The children themselves so far were varied in looks and attitude, non of them all had similar traits as they all seemed very individual but still they all had an aura around them that Levi had defiantly felt before, it was powerful and welcoming. To put it simply, he just didn't know.

Suddenly a voice like honey shot through the room one that Levi instantly recognised and from the shocked faces that surrounded him so did the rest of them. He slowly turned his head allowing raven locks to fall into his bewildered face. Right in front of them stood an older more perfect version of Eren Jaeger.

"Your all so beautiful" Eren murmured his eyes were dancing around the room looking at each of us, inspecting us. His hands shot to his mouth as he realised what he said. Levi couldn't help but think that he might want to cover his eyes that were packed to the brim with tears that were ready to fall.

Nai ran over to him and hugged him and so did Ren.

"Do you like your surprise father? We helped them just like you taught us and now you get to see them again. You don't have to be alone anymore" Nai muttered while he cried into Eren's chest.

Wait Eren was the father of all these children but he isn't old enough to have this many kids. Before they knew it seven other children had entered the room, one being Royal who was proudly smiling at his fathers reaction. "You saved my friends and my family? Thank you" Eren cried.

Mikasa and Armin stood up and pulled Eren into a hug, they were so broken when he had left no wonder they were so keen on holding him again Levi evaluated.

After all he himself couldn't wait to get hold of Eren himself, they had a lot of catching up to do.


End file.
